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The Valley of the Kings and the Hopi: Constellations Send Ancient Messages

The thread of the constellations was very important to the builders of the pyramid complex. They went to great lengths to create them; carve them into solid stone and place them in the roof of the zodiac ceiling of Dendera, in the hope that we would understand their meaning today.

Zodiac ceiling in the Temple of Dendera. (Courtesy author)

In Peter Tompkins, Secrets of the Great Pyramid, Chapter XII, he explains how the Grand Gallery might have been used to chart the constellations when the Great Pyramid was first built and the gallery was open to the night sky.

Denderah zodiac with original colors (reconstructed) [left], and with 48 constellations of Claudius Ptolemaus identified among the present 72 constellations on this Zodiac [right].

The slot that is deep inside the pyramid today, needed to be on a true meridian and on a platform of solid earth to measure the precise moment when stars, sun, planets and the moon transited this meridian in their apparent rotation through the heavens.

The twelve, or thirteen constellations, could have been charted by someone looking up at the heavens while moving up and down the slope of the gallery on platforms like scaffolding built on the 24 oblong holes cut vertically into the walls. There are 27 holes, cut eight to 11 inches (20 to 28cm) deep, into the solid rock. We use a similar method in our observatories today.

Hopi Understanding

The Hopi speak of a line or thread of time when they tell their Creation Story. They are very concerned about the line between Orion (Hotomkan), the Pleiades (Choochhokam), and Sirius (Ponochona) and watch them very closely each year.

Constellation Orion as it can be seen by the naked eye. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

These three groups of stars are also very important to the Lakota Tribe as they make up the constellation of their White Buffalo. The Pleiades form the head, Orion the mid-section, and Sirius the tail. The Lakota ceremonies are based on the White Buffalo arrival and departure in the night sky.

We know that the constellations represent different periods of time we call ages (2,160 years in length) but we do not know when an age starts and when a new age begins or why they were created in the beginning.

We would need a specific point, chiseled in stone on Earth, where we could watch the constellations move one degree every 72 years along their line or thread, something like the Sphinx. We would also need a specific time or date on Earth’s path to do the job correctly, something like the winter solstice, on December 21st, when the new initiates arrive and the Hopi Ceremonial Cycle begins.

Valley of the Kings

In Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile River, 63 under-ground chambers have been found in a valley known as the Valley of the Kings, or Kings Valley, and each one has been designated as KV, 1, 2, 3, etc. as they have been uncovered. The most famous was KV-62 where Tutankhamun was found in four gold caskets. (Whenever I hear the number four I think of the Hopi and their belief that this is the fourth world or time.)

This is how the chambers are mapped today and thank you to the Theban Mapping Project for this information.

When I first saw the outline of KV-5 in the 1998 September issue of National Geographic, page 13, I saw a headless male figure. It is the largest underground chamber in the Valley of the Kings with over 120 rooms. If the figure represents Orion, his spear would be pointed at the burial site of Tutankhamun and the star Aldebaran, in the constellation of Taurus. In the middle ages Aldebaran was called Cortauri or The Heart of the Bull. The constellation of Orion should be located between the Pleiades and Sirius, if I am correct. So might KV-5 represent the Creator’s young nephew mentioned in the Hopi Creation Story?

KV-5 in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. (National Geographic)

I am not an astronomer but believe that Orion moves up and down on the Meridian path and the constellations move on the Ecliptic Path. So at some point in time, the Spear of Orion will meet the star Aldebaran, the Heart of the Bull, as we move along our line or string. I believe this moment in time was documented; in the mural and Valley of the Kings in Egypt; in the location of the ancient ruins and villages of the Hopi in Arizona and New Mexico, and the pyramid complexes of China and Mexico, just for that reason.

Message Through the Ages

Could this be the moment in time when one age ends and a new age begins? How would you leave a message that would last for thousands of years? When will Orion’s spear hit the heart of the bull?

Many other constellations and stars are represented by the chambers in the Valley of the Kings. Perhaps many new chambers could be found by laying a map of the constellations over the Valley of the Kings and searching where the constellations would be located on the ground.

Hello Dr. Cunningham and thank you for the information. Two items you might be interested in ; (1) The moon cycles are also charted by the buildings and circles carved in stone at Chaco Canyon. The DVD “The Mystery of Chaco Canyon” is very good, and (2) Hapgood’s “Path of the Poles” which gives the dates of the last polar shifts, 75,000, 50,000, 25,000, and 12,500 years ago which might match up with your figures. all the best. tom

The link between the Southwest United States and the Great Pyramids was made in my study of the Great Pyramids, which argued that the Great Pyramids were used to create a map of the world.

In my study I have noted that many legends worldwide match the idea I put forward that the constellations were drawn as a Mercator map to create a basic map of Earth.

When this is done the legends surrounding the Hopi and the Chumash Indians of California In North America) highlight specific regions that link directly to……. the Great Pyramids.

The Constellations drawn in your paper are those highlighting the constellations in the North Pole Precession Circle. The bird in Egyptian drawings is Cygnus, then the Bull is the stars between Lyra and Hercules (this pattern is replicated in images in Lascaux Cave. Images that are at least 14,000 years old).

The images employed by the Egyptians had however started to change from earlier Stone Age images, so the last image is a bird headed man with spear. The spear represents the Celestial Equator in the created world map.

What I found is the Greek Legends match their descriptions. Water constellations such as Cancer are found over oceans; and land constellations (Heroes that did not drown, or constellations described as birds are linked to land.)

….and I also found that the constellations used to map the journey of the dead in Chumash legends takes you directly to a site that matches the two headed dog Orthus – the brother had three headed dog Cerberus (The Hound of Hades.)

With the Great Pyramid World Map dated to at least 14,500 years old you would obviously need a world language…..which is the reason I have looked at geometric patterns found worldwide. And guess what. a few months ago I finally confirmed that there did exist an ancient written text in the Stone Age. See the artcle published recently in Ancient Origins

So we have a Stone Age Map, and a Stone Age Text, and as I showed in my book there was also a Stone Age Religion that worshipped eclipses. There were scientists, explorers, and map makers. So when it is all put together the Stone Age was a very interesting time, and many of their discoveries affected later cultures, such as the Egyptians.

Fascinating subject. It will be interesting to see if, at some point, verification of your theories is provided by discovery of the additional rooms you posit in the KV tombs.
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Human Origins

Although it may be a long time (if ever) before pagans reclaim their Yule from Christmas or their Samhain from Halloween, it is worthwhile to explore these ancient religious traditions. The Wheel of the Year follows the cycle of pagan festivals.

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